1.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alarm device that makes a visual and/or auditory indication at time intervals and is adapted to hold onto a medication container, such as one containing eye drops or pills.
2.Discussion of Related Art
Alarm devices for signaling the time when to take medication are conventional. Such alarm devices have been secured to containers of pills or eye drops. In an effort to accommodate varied schedules for taking the medication contained in the pills or eye drops, these alarms have become cumbersome to program. Some are multifaceted to accommodate setting off an alarm for taking a variety of different types of medication at different times throughout day. Many have some type of programmable clock that needs to be set; such clock timing circuitry is well known conventionally and is used in a number of consumer items.
Other medication reminder alarm mechanisms allow the time interval to be set by turning on an appropriate switch, but such mechanisms fail to hold onto a medication container such as the one typically provided by a pharmacist. Furnishing a separate medication compartment to go with the alarm both adds to the overall cost and slows down use, because the medication has to be transferred from the container it came in to the separate medication compartment that accompanied the alarm mechanism.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an alarm reminder device for taking medication that is user friendly in the sense of being readily programmable and which permits the user to vary the dosage interval for the medication for different days, without requiring additional alarm reminder devices. Further, it is desired that such an alarm reminder be readily secured to a container of medication, thereby eliminating the expense of providing a separate one and the inconvenience of transferring medication from one to the other.